LED illuminators are operating on low voltages of 2V˜5V with a given current drain such as 20 mA˜50 mA. Some very bright LEDs will drain higher current, but none of the known LEDs can operate by applying standard AC power line such as 120 VAC to the LEDs. To connect an LED illuminator directly to an AC power line, the power must be rectified and regulated to within the LED operating voltage and current levels.
The problem facing the present introductions of newly developed LED light devices is the need to integrate the LEDs into existing electrical AC line in apartments, homes, offices and other buildings. LED illuminators can be controlled in many ways, such as changing their light color, hue and brightness. They can be programmed to provide lighting scenes, such as candle lights and many more. For all such controlling scenarios, including brightness and color there is a need to propagate control signal to operate or switch on-off the LED and receive from the LED statuses, such as the current drain, the specific program in operation and others. Such one or two way control signals are difficult to propagate to the LEDs via the AC power line, particularly because the DC feed to the LED mandates the introduction of switching power regulators, that are noisy, choppy and disrupt the propagate signals. On the other hand, connecting a separate low voltage control line to an AC powered LED illuminator is prohibited by the electrical and building codes and therefore cannot be used.
Moreover, the commonly used light fixtures employ standard screw type socket as used globally for incandescent light bulbs or a standard two pin sockets as used for Halogen bulbs. None of the commonly used standard sockets is provided with terminals or pins for connecting a separate control line. This state is impeding the introduction of LED illuminators with control capabilities and/or limit such introductions to a specialized high priced LED illuminators. A simpler and lower cost solutions for controlling the LED illuminators, including the ON-OFF switching of the LEDs are needed.